Indicator of Rogue Quality & Reliabilty

[kerrton]

I own a 2008 Rogue and have been a member of this forum from the first month of ownership. This was the first model year for the Rogue, even though the sister "copy" was sold in Japan as the Dualis and Europe as the Quasqai for a couple years at least, prior to 2008. In the first year this forum was really hopping with issues, the most notorious was the "CVT Rattle Noise Thread", and various others including "Gear Shifter Squeek", "Gas Gauge" threads and several more which reflected common problems with this first model year.

The 2009 model year had it's fair share of problems too, I was on this forum daily and sometime several times a day contributing to hot topics stil involving the CVT noises, some engine noise discussion, and various other minor issues. Looking back on this, the REALLY interesting observation that I made was regarding human nature, and the impact of reading others describe problems or perceived problems with their vehicles. Several Rogue owners, myself including at the top of the list, reported being very happy with their vehicle until they came to our forum and read about a CVT noise, or a engine noise in cold weather, etc., then it actually got them paranoid and they'd start turning off their radio and listening carefully as they drove to see if they heard noises indicating a problem. I definately fell victim to this, and actually enjoyed my vehicle much less and started worrying about defects - early on I had my CVT replaced due to defect so that fueled my quest to find more defects and I regularly questioned the quality of my vehicle.

Since the early '08 - '09 model years, this forum has dramatically quieted down and the complaints about real defects are almost non-existent, and we moved on to predominantly fun threads about Rogue modifications, finding more detials about how the CVT transmission works, comparing fuel efficiency etc.. I think this is really great to see people having fun with their Rogues, and for me personally I've really turned a corner with my car and enjoy it so much more. I've had 6 warranty issues corrected, and my car now runs beautifully, super quiet, and gives even better fuel efficiency than when I first bought it. I use it to safely transport my wife, 2-year-old daughter and 80 lb dog and it is just perfect for us.

The botton line, and reason for my post, is that if this forum is any indicator of Nissan Rogue quality, I'd say that all the bugs have been worked out of the early models and this vehicle is an extremely well-built, reliable and exceptional vehicle with a perfect balance of function, fun, and low sticker price that few competitors can top. This is the only crossover vehicle that I know off that returns almost 40 mpg imperial highway, low price, fun to drive and great for hauling the whole family includig the big dog that I know of. Now that I and many of my friends are starting to have kids, some of them are talking about or purchasing mini-vans, but for me that would be a step down - have you ever looked at the cargo area behind the 3rd row in a minivan? It's tiny, roughly half that of the Rogue, and it has that annoying lip that you have to lift cargo over, and which makes in terrible for hauling dogs - the Rogues nice flat cargo area with no lip is perfect for dogs and cargo, minivans cant compete with it!!

So the Rogue forum has trailed off a little bit, partially because of summer vacation but I tend to think equally as much can be attributed to the fact that Nissan has quickly dealt with some initial quality issues, existing owners have had warranty work to correct problems and new models have been redesigned to eliminate defects. The next thing Im interested in revisting in the total mileage thread, we have a couple owners over 100,000 miles and Im interested to see how far the Rogue can go before major repairs are needed.

Happy Rogueing!!

[Rogue2008]

TOTALLY AGREE!

[Weberrider]

I am on my third set of warped rotors at 82,000 miles. Probably cannot turn them again, which will make this a very expensive repair. My right rear hatch strut has blown and the hatch free falls. A replacement strut is $125.00. The paint is soft and I am beginning to think I am jinxed with this car. I drive a lot of miles but am not hard on my cars. I have had Toyotas, Fords, Mazdas, Chevrolets, Izusus and Mercedes and have never warped a rotor. Not too happy at this point.

[philipa_240sx]

Re: Brake rotor warping

There is something with many OEM brake pads in recent years that seem to make them more susceptible to this. My '03 Altima would warp a set of rotors every 40,000mi. And I was extra careful to avoid hard braking then holding the brake pedal while stopped which is one of the primary causes of rotor warp. There is a very good read here about rotor warping:

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_wa ... disk.shtml

My solution is to switch brake pad brand/type. The wife's Mazda Protege also experienced rotor warping until I switched pads. I have used Satisfied Performance Pro Ceramic on her car for the past several years and she has never experienced rotor warp since. I just replaced the brakes on the Rogue this spring and purchased another set of Satisfied Pro Ceramics and I am happy to report the warping has not returned yet after 10,000mi. We'll see how it does long term.